"Why have you moved companies so often?" is a question I sometimes get.

1) I have itchy feet and I like adventure
2) The harsh reality is that in order to move my career forward I've had to aggressively hop roles in order to climb the ladder

For those of y'all who've been promised repeatedly that you're doing great work, but the promotion and new title never seems to materialise?

Seriously consider changing companies, if it's a possibility.

I have been really fortunate that in my case moving countries was also an option. Community & Support roles of any real seniority in gamedev are still fairly rare. Being able to say 'fuck it, moving to NZ/Germany/Canada' has been invaluable.

Only once in my entire 15 year career have I received an actual promotion without moving companies. Literally every other forward movement in my career has come from aggressively pursuing new roles when it was clear I would not move forward at the current one

I negotiate as a general rule. Some of those negotiations have involved my title. You can absolutely negotiate your title! It's often one of the easier things to get a company to agree to!

If there's an offer on the table, negotiate!

A company that takes it poorly, or in some way retaliates is not a company you want to work for regardless.

The hopping around is mostly understood within gamedev, but it's been interesting to see the reactions when I've looked outside of games. People are shocked that 1-2 years is considered a pretty good run at any given company.

Off of that, *always* take the recruiter call. ALWAYS. I don't care how happy you think you are right now, if there's more to learn at the current role, etc. Take the call! The best opportunities don't wait until it's convenient for you, they ambush you.

Worst case, it's not for you but you've made a connection with a recruiter that might find the perfect thing for you down the line. It never hurts to know good recruiters.

You think I had some big plan to move around the world? Absolutely not. I thought I'd move to NZ some day and then never leave. But then opportunity came along, and offered me both adventure and a big career step up! And one of the best managers I've ever had.